Bladder cancer represents the fifth most common neoplasm and the twelfth leading cause of cancer death in the United States, where over 53,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. Over 95% of bladder cancer cases in the United States are transitional cell carcinoma (TCC, sometimes referred to as urothelial cell carcinoma). Tumor stage is the best predictor of prognosis for patients with bladder cancer. Bladder cancer is staged according to the depth of invasion of the tumor and whether or not there are lymph node or distant metastases. Non-invasive papillary tumors (the most common and least aggressive type of bladder tumor) are referred to as stage pTa tumors. “Flat” TCC, more commonly referred to as “carcinoma in situ” (CIS) is a more aggressive but less common tumor that is associated with a high rate of progression to invasive disease. CIS is assigned a stage of pTIS. Tumors that have invaded through the basement membrane of the epithelium into the underlying lamina propria are assigned a stage of pT1. A tumor that has invaded the muscle of the bladder is a stage pT2 tumor. Invasion through the muscle into the tissue surrounding the bladder is a pT3 tumor. Invasion into surrounding organs is a pT4 tumor. The term “superficial” bladder cancer refers to pTa, pTIS, and pT1 tumors. Muscle-invasive bladder cancer refers to pT2, pT3, and pT4 tumors.
Approximately 80% of bladder cancer cases present as “superficial” bladder cancer and the remaining 20% as muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Patients with “superficial” bladder cancer do not require cystectomy (i.e. removal of the bladder) but have a high risk of tumor recurrence, and are monitored for tumor recurrence and/progression on a regular basis (usually every 3 months for the first 2 years, every 6 months for the next 2 years, and every year thereafter). Treatment for superficial bladder cancer generally consists of surgical removal of papillary tumors and treatment of CIS with Bacillus-Calmette Guerin (BCG). Patients with muscle invasive disease are treated by cystectomy and have a relatively poor prognosis compared to patients with “superficial” bladder cancer. Unfortunately, 80–90% of patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer initially present with muscle invasive disease. A large share of the estimated 10,000 deaths per year from bladder cancer is accounted for by this group of patients. The fact that many patients with advanced bladder cancer present that way suggests that screening programs that detect bladder cancer at earlier stages may help reduce the overall mortality from the disease. In fact, at least two large screening studies suggest that screening does help identify bladder cancer at earlier stages. Messing et al., Urology, 45:387–396, 1995; and Mayfield and Whelan, Br. J. Urol., 82(6):825–828, 1998.
Cystoscopy and urine cytology have been the mainstays for bladder cancer detection over the past several decades. Several studies, however, have shown that cytology has a disappointingly low sensitivity for bladder cancer detection. Mao et al., Science, 271:659–662, 1996; Ellis et al., Urology, 50:882–887, 1997; and Landman et al., Urology, 52:398–402, 1998. For this reason, there has been great interest in the development of new assays that have increased sensitivity for the detection of bladder cancer. Examples of new assays that have been developed for bladder cancer detection include tests that detect bladder tumor antigens, e.g. BT test (C. R. Bard, Inc., Murrayhill, N.J.), NMP-22, FDP, etc., tests that detect increased telomerase activity (usually associated with malignancy), or tests that detect genetic alterations in urinary cells and bladder washings (e.g. fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and microsatellite analysis). Although FISH analysis may be more sensitive than other detection methods, large numbers of cells must be counted, and consequently, the analysis is time consuming and costly. Therefore, a need exists for a rapid method of detecting cancer that maintains adequate sensitivity.